Riverhead school district voters yesterday approved proposed operating budgets for Riverhead Free Library and Baiting Hollow Library.
Voter turnout was light as usual in the library balloting, which takes place at the Riverhead library, with only 280 votes cast in an election in which all registered voters who reside in the Riverhead Central School District are eligible to vote. Library budget vote turnout has typically been about one-tenth of the turnout for school budget votes.
Voters approved the $3.67 million Riverhead library operating budget by a vote of 184 to 95. Baiting Hollow Library’s budget passed by a vote of 179 to 101. Ninety-three absentee ballots are included in the totals, said library board president Kathy Berezny.
“As board president I would like to thank the community who voted and passed the budget for the library,” Berezny said. “It is a wonderful place for all ages and we have a year filled with great programs, new books, DVDs, and so much more. Visit the library and take advantage of all it has to offer,” she said.
The Riverhead library is under new management, with a new interim director appointed last week at a special meeting of the library board of trustees, following the surprise announcement of the resignation of director Joy Rankin, who was hired in 2013. The board of trustees itself has undergone upheaval in recent months, with four of its seven sitting members, including its president, resigning since Jan. 1. The board appointed a new president and vice president last month.
Correction: This story has been amended to reflect a correction to the former library director’s date of hire, which took place in 2013, not 2014 as originally stated.
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